WBOU radio to launch new program to aid parents

Dr. Parnell Donahue is hosting a new program, “Parenting Matters,” for WBOU 100.5 FM, Nashville’s Catholic radio station. During a recent recording of an episode of the program, which will be launched at noon, Monday, Sept. 10, Dr. Donahue talks with, from left, Holy Family Church parishioners Joe and Margie Imorde and Lisa Vegors, youth minister at St. Matthew Church in Franklin.

Nashville’s low-power Catholic radio station, WBOU 100.5 FM, will debut a new 30-minute program to help parents navigate modern family life.

“Parenting Matters,” which will be hosted by Nashville pediatrician and author Dr. Parnell Donahue, will begin airing on the station at noon, Monday, Sept. 10.

“Parenting is more than changing diapers and taxiing kids to soccer practice,” Donahue said. His new show will address defining what parenting really is, and what role religion, prayer and discipline have in the process.

The series has four main goals, he said: supporting parents as the primary and most important teachers of their children; emphasizing religion as fundamental in raising children of integrity directed by a strong moral compass; offering parents a path leading their children to be men and women of character; and reaching out to single parents in their special role.

Each episode will open with a short monologue by Donahue, followed by an interview with a special guest expert. The second half of the program will feature a panel discussion with the expert, a local couple interested in the topic, and Donahue.

Segments one and two will air three times that week, followed by segments three and four the following week, with repeat airings also scheduled.

The show can also be streamed at www.wbou.org.

“Our first guest is Dr. Michelle Fiscus from Brentwood, who is a past president of the American College of Pediatrics, and on show number two, Dr. James Wellborn, a licensed child psychologist,” also from Brentwood, said Donahue. He added that “our third show will address violence in schools, with Brentwood Police Department Officer Mark Wood, a school resource officer, as our guest.”

Show number four tackles the issue of why teenagers need to attend church, and how doing so both makes them healthy spiritually and bolsters their confidence and interest in reading, he said.

Future shows will address topics such as: cell phones, peers, education, music, violence, diet, health habits, drugs, alcohol and sex. “There will be plenty of topics and suggestions that can make a parent’s job easier and more productive,” Donahue said.

All of the “Parenting Matters” guests will be, said Donahue, “judges, priests, psychologists, educators, etc., from areas of expertise that a parent should be familiar with – and learn how to be a parent.”

“In effect, if you do a good job (of raising the child), your child will become you,” noted Donahue.

Among the many areas of concern for parents today are school violence, self-esteem, and an overload of social activities, Donahue said.

“For the first phobia, I tell parents to stay calm, because your child getting shot in school is not going to happen – getting killed in a car crash going to school is more likely,” said Donahue.

“Self-esteem is important, along with interacting with your children, because parents must learn they can’t be on their devices all day – or at the dinner table; it makes the child feel insignificant,” said Donahue.

He added that “not only is conversation important, but kids should be allowed to walk to school too, because this also builds confidence.”

Finally, Donahue suggests “allowing room for boredom; kids and their parents often have too many activities going, and you should not overload them with too many that you choose, or let the kids overload themselves.”

Donahue was born in Minnesota and graduated from Marquette University/Medical College of Wisconsin. He completed his pediatric residency at Wisconsin Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he also served as chief resident.

He served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps before beginning his private practice in pediatrics in Wisconsin and Georgia. He served a high school athletic team physician for two decades.

Donahue, 80, has four grown children, all graduates of the University of Dayton with doctoral degrees, including two who are physicians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and 14 grandchildren.

He has written several books on parenting.

“Parenting Matters” is co-sponsored by the Office of Family Life and Marriage for the Diocese of Nashville and Holy Family Church in Brentwood.

“Parnell pitched the program’s concept to the diocese, and we began from that point of him expressing interest in doing more than the one-minute ‘takes’, (titled “The Marriage Minute”) that we are already doing on the air – and will continue,” said Deacon Tom Samoray, diocesan director of family life and marriage.

The “Marriage Minutes” are hosted by marriage counselor and Catholic Media Productions President John Bosio, which also sponsors WBOU radio.

Deacon Samoray noted that the show’s potential audience includes all the Catholics in the 54 parishes of the Diocese of Nashville.

“Parenting Matters” is produced on a minimal budget, with the shows recorded in a classroom at Holy Family Church in Brentwood. A freelance engineer records the proceedings, putting everything together at a studio afterwards, and 30 seconds of music – by a local 6-year-old named Hannah Fernandez – opens and closes the show.

“I’d like to see it become an hour-long show, which allows for a lot more give and take, letting people call in, which is an ability we currently don’t have,” said Donahue.

He explained that “WBOU is currently an affiliate of the Relevant Network – we carry a lot of their programming – and I would like the show to be picked up nationally.”

For more information about the program, visit www.wbou.org, and for more information on Donahue, visit his website at par.donahue@comcast.net.